


it’s my birthday and I’ll bounce if I want to (bounce if I want to, yeah, bounce if I want to)

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eren's Birthday, M/M, and they're all dumb losers, there are bouncy houses and kisses, they're all losers, you should know that off the bat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 17:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3618135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hey,” Levi said, “what do you want to do for your birthday?”</p><p>“Barbeque,” Eren answered. Levi made a face.</p><p>“Anything else,” he asked, only half serious.</p><p>Eren blinked at him. “Bouncy house.”</p><p>“…I can work with that.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	it’s my birthday and I’ll bounce if I want to (bounce if I want to, yeah, bounce if I want to)

A little known fact about Eren was that if you woke him up only minutes after he drifted off, he wouldn’t really wake all the way up. He’d kind of hang, half asleep, half awake, and in this mumbly squinty adorable state he would answer questions with far more ease than he would when awake. He also wouldn’t remember it.

Mikasa had told him about this originally, since she grew up with Eren and all his weird quirks. She had used the trick to figure out what dumb idea Eren had and put a stop to it before he could hurt himself. Levi wasn’t quite sure that was really fair and so far he’d never had to stoop to using the trick, but at the moment he was sort of desperate. Eren’s birthday was coming up and since they’d already pulled the surprise party shenanigan for the year before he wasn’t sure what to do for him. Eren hadn’t been helpful so far, suggesting they just go out for dinner or something, maybe meet his friends for drinks, but that sounded like such a boring birthday party idea.

Or, as Hanji had put it, it sounded like something Levi would request.

Which was rude, but not wholly incorrect.

So Levi curled up to Eren a week before his boyfriend’s birthday, pressing his nose against the taller man’s shoulder as he waited for the other to drift off. Levi was still uncomfortable about this, because no matter what Mikasa said it still felt like using Eren, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Eren fell asleep fast, fast enough that Levi felt a little twinge of envy in his gut. Levi tossed and turned most nights, no matter how warm and comfortable the circle of Eren’s arms was or how exhausted he felt. But at least for this particular purpose Eren’s quick-to-sleep hard-to-wake nature was a plus.

“Hey,” Levi said, awkward and loud in the silence of their bedroom. “Eren, are you awake?”

“Ngh,” Eren mumbled, curling down to press his face more firmly against Levi’s hair. Levi squirmed, trying to pull back far enough to see the brunette’s face before simply giving up.

“Good enough,” Levi mumbled to himself, feeling the tips of his ears burn. He felt so fucking dumb doing this, but, honestly, dinner? Dinner? What were they, fifty?

“Eren, I need you to answer my next question,” Levi said.

“Sure,” Eren slurred, breaths tickling Levi’s ear. Levi had a brief though that like this Eren was probably going to drool in his hair, which was gross enough to warrant a few more wiggles to get them on a more even height. Eren blinked at him through unseeing eyes as he curled his arms around the brunette’s neck and dragged Eren down off the pillows, only feeling a little bad about it. Levi squirmed up until his head was on the pillows, twisting so that Eren could use him as a pillow instead. Eren had to be tugged into the position, but once they were situated Levi cleared his throat and continued.

“What do you want to do for your birthday?”

Eren blinked at him dumbly for almost a full minute before answering, “barbeque.”

Levi made a face down at his boyfriend. A barbeque wasn’t as boring as going out to dinner, but it still screamed that they were old and waiting to die. “Anything else,” he asked, only half serious as his hands inched up from where they had been resting against Eren’s shoulders to play with his hair.

Eren blinked again, but this time his answer was quicker. “Bouncy castle,” he slurred, corner of his lip curling.

Levi blinked back at him for such a long time that Eren slipped back into full unconsciousness without him noticing. In the end he snorted, tugging at the larger body of his boyfriend to tangle their legs together a little more carefully, not caring that both of his legs and probably one of his arms was going to be numb when they woke up.

“I can work with that,” he admitted, grinning fondly down at the younger man. Honestly, he thought as he drifted off too, he should have thought of that sooner. Eren was, and always would be, a big dumb puppy at heart.

 

_One Week Later_

 

“Levi,” Hanji called, sticking their head over the fence. Levi made a face at them, since even they weren’t tall enough for that shit. They had to be standing on something, which most likely meant they were on the fucking weird gargoyle statue Eren had bought at a garage sale. “Eren’s pulling into the driveway!”

“Get _down_ ,” Levi snapped, “you’re going to make him suspicious!”

“Why would he be suspicious,” Jean wondered, leaning against the railing of their back porch. “You already went overboard with the surprise party idea last year, remember?”

“Be nice,” Armin said, digging his elbow into Jean’s side with a grin. “Or Levi might take away your bouncing rights.”

Jean tried to look like the idea didn’t affect him, but Levi could see the horror in his eyes. “He can’t do that,” he said, trying to sound brave. “It’s Eren’s party, so he makes the rules!”

“Yes I do,” Eren shouted, startling everyone. Levi snapped around to look at the gate, but it was still closed and Eren wasn’t in sight. Hanji, however, was sitting on top of their fence with the cake in their lap for some goddamn reason, despite the fact that it was seven feet of white painted wood that ended in a point at the top of each board.

(Yes, they had a white picket fence. Everyone had laughed and laughed about it, but Levi had let slip that he had always kind of wanted the white picket fence life and Eren, the idiot that he was, went out and got him one.

There may or may not have been tears, but as far as Levi was concerned no one needed to fucking know that part, because it wasn’t any of their damn business. They were just all jealous and they could take that jealously and go fuck themselves with it. He and Eren were happy in their dumb little house with their dumb backyard and its dumb white picket fence.)

“ _Hanji_ ,” Levi growled, making ineffective hand motions at them like he wanted to strange them. Erwin laughed from his position by the grill and Levi threw him a dirty look over his shoulder, gesturing at the crazy brunette angrily.

“I know, I know,” Erwin said, before he could say anything. “I’m supposed to keep them from climbing on things after the Roof Incident, but this isn’t my fault! You told me to man the grill, remember?”

“Why the fuck is everyone questioning my memory today,” Levi grumbled, crossing his arms as the fence gate swung open, creaking slightly as it did. He twitched, having been meaning to fix that all morning, before twisting to face his boyfriend. He tried to rearrange his face so that he didn’t look angry when Eren saw him.

Not that the effort to do so was even worth it, because the second the gate swung open and Eren stepped through his eyes landed on the bouncy house in the back corner of their backyard (hidden from view in the front yard due to their house’s shape) and he gasped. His hands twitched, making Levi realize that Hanji had probably demanded he hand over the cake for this very reason, and with a little noise of excitement Levi would have excepted out of a small dog Eren shot forward like a targeted missile and launched himself at the bouncy house.

Honestly, it was more of a bouncy slide/obstacle course than a house, but Levi had figured this would be more fun. It was also his favorite, which was more so why he had picked it, but from the look of it Eren enjoyed it too. Levi felt his shoulders sag, because picking a fucking bouncy house to rent for his idiot boyfriend had been way more stressful than he had previously assumed.

Eren tore through the thing the right way before stopping at the end and hurling back, despite the fact he had to scramble straight up the slide to do so. Levi smiled at the sight, feeling the familiar warm feeling spread through his chest as Eren’s laughter rang loudly across the yard.

“Whose idea was this,” he shouted, twisting at the highest point to peer down at everyone else in the yard. Most of their guests (aka Eren’s shithead friends and the people Levi accidentally befriended in college who won’t leave him alone) were gathered on the porch, because Levi had snapped at everyone who had tried to play on the bouncy house before Eren had arrived, which meant they were all at least ten feet away from it to make a point. Because everyone they knew (with the exception of, like, Petra and Krista) were Grade A Assholes.

Everyone in the yard pointed at Levi, who huffed, awkward and embarrassed. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight, glaring at their guests because he didn’t know what else to do. Eren looked at him, beaming like the fucking sun shining in the sky (thank you weather, for not fucking raining today, honestly, fuck spring), and then in the next moment he was a hurdling huge blur coming Levi’s way.

“Oh shit,” Levi muttered, bracing himself for the impact. He was all too used to the crash collision hugs Eren loved to give and he barely had time to do more than widen his stance before Eren was off the bouncy house and darting across the grass toward him. But instead of bodily slamming into him and knocking him over Eren slung past him, arm around his waist, and then-

“What do you think you’re _doing_ ,” Levi hissed, trying to cling to Eren’s shoulders without looking like he was. All he could see was bright blue sky framing Eren’s face, which was all bright green eyes and tanned rosy cheeks, crinkles touching the corners of his eyes ever so faintly. Eren leaned even closer, until their noses were almost touching, and Levi could hear someone whoop loudly in the background.

“I believe people refer to this move as dipping,” Eren answered. He bent Levi a little further back, leaving the toes of his shoes scrambling on the grass. Levi was half tempted to either kick Eren until he dropped him or wrap his legs around whatever bit of Eren he could to get a better grip on the situation. Before he could do either the mischievous glint in Eren’s eyes softened, turning his grin into a wide, dopey smile, the same kind he wore that morning Levi found him painting the fence.

“You got me a bouncy house,” Eren whispered, pulling Levi impossibly closer so that their noses did brush. Levi felt his cheeks heat, especially when there were several other loud whoops and cheers. Hanji in particular started to cat call.

“Yes I did, you big dolt,” Levi muttered, finger curling in the back of Eren’s t-shirt. “So maybe you should put me down and go _play in it_.”

Eren laughed, knocking them both closer to the ground when he pressed a kiss against Levi’s lips. He smeared his chapstick against Levi’s chin in a way that made the shorter man’s chest clench, the fond warmth that had been building in his chest ignited, spreading through his limbs like he’d been hanging out in the damn sun too long and turned red like their last vacation. When he pulled back that glint was back in his eyes, sharp and bright, making warning bells ring in Levi’s head.

“Eren,” he growled, but it was too late. The brunette was straightening, but he was using the grip on Levi’s waist to spin him while he ducked down, slinging Levi over his shoulder like a goddamn sack of shit. “ _Eren_!”

Levi caught a glimpse of Hanji, still on top of their fucking fence, grinning at him with their dumb eyebrows arched too high. He knew what they were about to do before they did it, but he still craned his head, hands propped up on Eren’s lower back, to glower at them as they wolf whistled, tipping sort of sideways immediately after as they started laughing. Levi took one hand off of Eren to flip them off, feeling a small wave of relief when Erwin appeared at the fence to take the cake from the glasses wearing shithead.

“Eren, put me the fuck down,” Levi grumbled, wishing he wasn’t having this conversation with his boyfriend’s ass. It was a very nice ass and usually he liked admiring the view, but he was still embarrassed by the _entire fucking group of people_ watching them. “Eren, I’m not kidding, if you don’t put me down I’ll-“

“Jesus fuck,” Eren muttered, “I always forget how squeaky you get from manhandling.” Levi considered hitting him, but he didn’t want to hurt Eren. Instead he pinched the ass, enjoying the way Eren yelped. He didn’t enjoy the way he almost _dropped him_ , but still.

“Oh, starting on the birthday pinches, huh?”

Levi jerked his head up just in time to see Jean’s smirk, which fell slightly when Levi glared at him. It was nice to know his glares were still terrifying to some of Eren’s idiot friends, even though he could tell Mikasa and Annie were laughing at the way his cheeks were probably red as hell. He tried to glare at them too, but Eren swung him abruptly back upright, making Levi scramble in surprise. In his scramble he accidentally wrapped his legs around Eren’s waist, which meant that instead of putting him back on his feet Eren was overbalanced.

Levi was half glad that the bouncy house thing was right behind him, meaning they both fell on it, but at the same time knocking his head on one of the garden rocks and not having to live through the embarrassment of having their weight visibly bounce the entire contraption, his legs fucking _wrapped around Eren’s waist in the middle of their backyard in front of guests_ would have been nice.

Eren’s weight had all but winded him, pinning him against the air-filled canvas under him, but when he shifted Levi was momentarily distracted by the familiar and welcome sight of Eren wide eyed and pink cheeked above him. He considered reaching up to tangle his hands in Eren’s hair, dragging him down for a kiss, not caring that he was still wearing chapstick. He was too mesmerized by the warm glow of Eren’s skin in the sunlight and the bright, happy color of his eyes.

Or he was until Jean opened his goddamn big mouth again and yelled, “keep it in your pants, Jeager! I don’t care if it’s your fucking birthday, I don’t want to see that shit!”

Eren dragged himself back as far as he could with Levi’s legs still around his waist to send a dirty look over his shoulder. Levi could have released him, but he didn’t feel like it all of a sudden. Fuck Jean’s eyes.

“You’re just jealous, you stupid horse-face,” Eren shouted, proving that their neighbors were in for a long afternoon. “And if you don’t pull that stick outta your ass you’re not getting any cake!”

Jean made a loud squawking noise at the prospect of no cake, but Levi wasn’t paying attention. He reached up and tangled his fingers in Eren’s hair, dragging him down from that kiss he’d been thinking of before. Eren still tasted like chapstick and Hanji was still wolf whistling, but it was worth it, Eren’s hands thumping against the bouncy house by Levi’s head and making them both slide a few inches toward the edge before they drew back.

“Happy birthday, Eren,” Levi muttered, feeling his cheeks heat up even more as Eren shifted back to stare at him. Eren was back to the dumb dopey smile, making Levi’s heart thunder in his chest until he couldn’t bare it any more. He wedged his arms between them and shoved Eren off, squirming out from under him, kicking off his shoes as he did so.

“Bet you I can get through this thing faster than you can,” Levi shouted, chest tight. He glanced back, a little worried that Eren would be upset that he bolted, but he found his boyfriend right on his tail, grinning like he’d been given the world, and Levi’s heart lurched anew. He was definitely the best birthday planner ever, he thought, grinning as he jerked his gaze forward, ducking his head as he hurtled over the first obstacle in his path, Eren catching up to jostle against his side, warm and bright and-

God, Levi loved him. And he couldn’t wait to try to top this birthday party next year.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna be busy this weekend (and probably hella tired on Monday), so this is my thing for Eren's birthday!!! I was talking about these idiots and bouncy castles and I couldn't help myself, lmao.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
